Fishing a crankbait requires more concentration than any other lure.
When fishing a crankbait you must concentrate on the feel.
Stay alert, you
are constantly feeling the wobble of the crankbait and paying close
attention to the feel of that wobble. As soon as the feel changes, the
lure is near something other than water.
More often than not, the line
hitting something causes the feel to change. Before a crankbait hits a
limb or a rock, the line hits the obstruction. And the feel of the
line hitting the obstruction is a signal to slow down. Then, when the
lure hits the obstruction, you give it a few inches of slack, then
retrieve it slowly past the obstruction; then you begin the process all over
again.
Most strikes occur during the two or three seconds between when
you slow the retrieve and when you start retrieving again at a normal
speed.
Another thing that can cause a diminishing wobble of a crankbait is a
bass. If a bass takes a crankbait from behind, you will not feel the
bite.
Instead, the wobble goes away. You should set the hook. At least
fifty percent of the fish that strike a crankbait take it from behind
and are not felt by the fisherman.
Instead, the fisherman feels an
absence of wobble. This phenomenon can happen anywhere, but it often
happens after the lure has left its running depth and is getting nearer the
boat.
As the lure nears the boat, set the hook anytime you detect a
subtle difference in wobble. More than likely you will catch a fish, but
when you do not, the hook-set costs you nothing.
When fishing a crankbait you are feeling for three different
sensations. The first is the feel of the line hitting structure or cover.
This
feel alerts you to the fact that it is time for you to finesse the
crankbait through cover.
The second sensation is the feel of a bass taking
the lure from behind. This feel tells you to set the hook. And the
third sensation is the granddaddy of them all: a bass tries to take the
rod and reel away from you.
For many bass fishermen this is the only
feel they know. These fishermen are not even aware that they are missing
well over fifty percent of their strikes.
Is there a difference in the feel between a crankbait sucked in by a
bass and the line touching structure?
Generally yes, but having said
this, all crankbait fishermen from time to time set the hook on a twig, a
small limb, or a weed.
There is some structure that tends to feel like
a bass has just vacuumed-in the bait, but most structure feels enough
different that an alert fisherman knows when to set the hook and when
not too.
If your author was trying to learn how to fish crankbaits, the first
thing he would do is load a sensitive rod and reel combination with
fire-line or fusion-line, 14 pound test. Why fire or fusion-line? Because
they are at least ten times as sensitive as monofilament, and to
develop a sense of feel you should use sensitive line. He would also use a
medium-light action graphite rod. Why? Because graphite rods transmit
more of the feel to your hands than any other rod. Again, we are
trying to enhance the feel of the crankbait as it runs through the water, as
it hits structure, and as a bass takes it.
Will this rig catch more bass for you? You bet. Particularly, if you
have been missing bass because you didn't feel the bite. But we hasten
to add, as soon as you have developed the feel, you should switch to
monofilament and a rod designed specifically for crankbait fishing.
Anyway you hack it, fishermen don't land as many bites when fishing
crankbaits as when fishing spinnerbaits. This is fundamental to crankbait
fishing.
But the good fishermen land a surprisingly large percentage
of their bites because the combination of monofilament and a quality
crankbait rod has give, a controlled and precise give.
This give delays
the hook set by a fraction of a second and this delay increases the
percentage of hook-ups considerably.
This is why we do not fish fire-line
or fusion-line when crankbaiting.
The give of monofiliment is a
decided plus.
